Tokyo Update: Surgery successful
12 hours after arriving with us, 7 week old Tokyo was seen by our vets and prepared for major and intricate surgery.
Tokyo’s left eye had ruptured and would have suffered immeasurably had we not gone ahead with the surgery today. Unfortunately Tokyo’s right eye is also damaged and the sight is significantly compromised, however at this stage the right eye does not require surgery.
This type of surgery is extremely dangerous in any cat, let alone in a kitten as young as little Tokyo. Not only us the anesthetic a huge risk, the procedure itself carries risks.
Behind the structure of the eyes runs the vagus nerve and in short, the vagus nerve connects the brain to the body. The vagus nerve is the longest and most complex of the 12 pairs of cranial nerves that emanate from the brain. It transmits information to or from the surface of the brain to tissues and organs elsewhere in the body.
The name “vagus” comes from the Latin term for “wandering.” This is because the vagus nerve wanders from the brain into organs in the neck, chest, and abdomen. If the vagus nerve is damaged, the results can be devastating or even fatal.
Thankfully our skilled surgeon and team at Northcote managed to perform the surgery without any such complications and Tokyo us now back at the rescue recuperating and receiving strong pain relief.